China to launch (to Moon?) tomorrow

They haven’t said much about this mission, but the primary purpose is to orbit the Moon and then have a capsule re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and be recovered. Basically, it’s a dry run on the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission (minus the lunar landing, of course).

There’s also a couple of hitchhiker payloads on board:

The 31-pound (14 kilograms) 4M microspacecraft — developed at LuxSpace of Luxembourg, an affiliate of OHB AG — is designed to fly by the moon and then return Earthward.

LuxSpace has been working with radio amateurs around the world to listen for transmissions from the 4M spacecraft and send in collected data.

4M also totes a tiny dosimeter, provided by Spanish company iC-Málaga of Mallorca, that gauges radiation levels throughout the satellite’s circumlunar trajectory.